Florida’s Summer of Slime: Stuart and Lake Okeechobee

For several statewide publications, I reported last month on the plight of the Caloosahatchee River and its befouled waters flowing from Lake Okeechobee; delivering slime to waterfront neighborhoods in Fort Myers and Cape Coral along the way to the Gulf Islands of Southwest Florida.

Next up on our Summer of Slime photo tour is a visit to Stuart and Lake Okeechobee…

Stuart and environs is a glistening jewel born of water. It may well top the list of Florida cities in shoreline per capita. There’s simply water everywhere. Two forks of the St. Lucie River, the Indian River Lagoon, canals and peninsulas and islands, and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.

But it wasn’t Stuart’s reputation for abundant clean water that drew me south from Gainesville with my cameras. In effect, I’ve become a traveling crime scene photographer this summer—and slime is the crime. A devastating outbreak of toxic algae has once again hit the St. Lucie River and the Treasure Coast, fueled by the polluted waters of Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River basin to the north.

Sugar industry representatives say the water coming out of Lake Okeechobee is not the problem and that the algae outbreak in Stuart is primarily caused by Stuart’s own septic tanks and urban stormwater. This claim is contradicted by the extensive algae mats seen along the C-44 Canal between the Port Mayaca and St. Lucie Locks, well upstream from Stuart.

There are waterfront homes in Stuart yet untouched by the algae bloom but that’s no consolation for the thousands of Martin County residents whose lives are in upheaval once again this summer. The familiar pattern of algae outbreaks is fueled by fertilizer, manure and urban sources of nutrient pollution, including septic tanks.

With water blogger Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, I took a driving tour of the Port Mayaca Lock and Dam on Lake Okeechobee, pictured, and we followed the C-44 Canal to Stuart and the Atlantic Ocean, 26 miles away. Lake O, its slime now visible from space, more closely resembles a storm water retention pond than a biologically healthy lake.

Felix Gui, Jr. caught a speckled perch for dinner. Experts have warned against eating fish exposed to the algae. A nearby Martin County Health Department sign warns against contact with the water but I saw no messaging about whether fish caught in these waters is safe to eat.

Timer Powers Park on the St. Lucie Canal in Indiantown.

At the St. Lucie Lock, a vortex of slime—resembling a fluorescent green variant of Van Gogh’s Starry Night—waits to be flushed downstream.

A pair of jet-skiers signaled for the lock to be opened, and another pulse of algae-laden water is released towards Stuart and the coast.

Reporter Tyler Treadway of TCPalm gathered a sample of the polluted water from a canal behind the offices of Florida Sportsman magazine in Stuart.

Staff complaints of headaches, nausea and dizziness prompted Florida Sportsman publisher Blair Wickstrom to temporarily close the office in late July. “It smells like death,” he said.

John Moran photo

Meanwhile, we’re getting conflicting messages from officialdom. The Florida Dept. of Health website, under the heading How to Keep Your Family Safe While Enjoying Florida’s Water Ways, has this to say: “Cyanobacteria/ blue-green algae…are naturally occurring in Florida’s environment and are also found all over the world. They are part of a healthy ecosystem and help support a wide variety of aquatic life.” In other words, Lighten up, Florida. This is just nature being natural.

The question remains: What will become of the value of the Florida brand when the world fully sees what we have done to our waters?

Greg Fedele has lived in his water-front home in Stuart since 1991. He grieves for his loss. “I have three kids who can’t enjoy the waterways of Martin County like I did growing up.”

John Moran/special to the Florida Phoenix

The pictures don’t lie. We the people of Florida bear witness today to nothing less than a crime against nature, and a crime against the children who shall inherit our natural legacy.

A long time ago, Florida political leaders—Republicans and Democrats in common cause—understood there can be no healthy economy without a healthy environment. They wisely enacted laws and regulatory safeguards accordingly.

But that was then and this is now. It’s time to end the popular fiction in Florida that we can plunder and pollute our way to prosperity.

Gov. Reubin Askew said it best when he declared in 1971, “Ecological destruction is nothing less than economic suicide.”

7 COMMENTS

“It’s time to end the popular fiction in Florida that we can plunder and pollute our way to prosperity.”
Hear hear. I’ve always said our environment doesn’t stand in the way of a healthy economy- it’s the backbone of one.
All those politicians who call themselves fiscal conservatives or Tea Party “patriots” and allow the environment to be polluted in the name of “jobs”and the economy are shams. There’s nothing fiscally sound about making taxpayers pay to mitigate pollution instead of making companies pay to prevent pollution and pass the cost to their customers . Nor would a true Tea Party patriot allow that when also their big platform was that government shouldn’t pick winners and losers. In this case, they’re picking the agriculture and construction industries over the fishing and tourism industries along with many small businesses. (Of course I knew The Tea Party in Florida was mostly a sham from the get-go when they had the opportunity and the support behind them to end the subsidies to sugar but focused their energy on stopping the subsidies to solar.) But I digress.
Otherwise, a big Amen.

Amen.
Those were the days when Askew, Chiles, Graham cared for our great state. Now, our only hope is Gwen Graham.
If we are stuck with Putnam or DeSantis, God help us us all! WE WILL DROWN IN GREEN SLIME.
Thank you for sending out great words of truth. The least we can do is LISTEN.

I concur about Putnam and DeSantis. But don’t kid yourself about the Grahams. Population growth and economic development are at the heart of Florida’s environmental problems. Private property rights and exploitation of private property for financial gain continue to destroy the “Real Florida”. Bob Graham’s policies are responsible for a massive influx of population into Florida since his time as Governor. The Graham family owns significant property in the Miami Lakes area on the margin of the Everglades. That land is nothing like it was before they got their hands on it and exploited it for financial gain. A massive mega-mall is planned for future development on that land. Like her father, Gwen Graham advocates development and economic growth. They both advocate a consumer-driven economy: The more we consume, the better our economy. The better our economy, the better off we are. If we don’t consume, the economy suffers. (But, in fact, the less we consume, the better off the natural environment is). I believe Florida is already overdeveloped and needs a new breed of leadership. Policies like a state income tax to discourage massive population influx by baby boomers make sense. Yet, none of the candidates for Governor (Democrat and Republican included) advocates anything like this. None of them come close to what the “Real Florida” needs.

[…] Rick Scott traveled to southeast Florida today where nasty fluorescent green algae is blanketing waterways around Stuart, but he declined to speak to reporters “due to security issues,” according to TC […]

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